February 10, 1946prev home
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A Note
Father Migliorini, after reading this description of the young unknown Servite taken up into glory by Mary Most Holy, this morning brought me a little book on whose cover there was a portrait of a young Servite whom I immediately recognized as the one I had seen. It was only that in the vision he was not wearing glasses and his face was somewhat thinner - but only slightly.
I did not know that the religious Venanzio M. Quadri157 had ever lived or that he had died in the odor of sanctity He was really completely unknown, to the point that I was unsure as to whether I had seen an ecstasy of Blessed Giovanni Angelo or Father Pennoni had died and Our Lady wanted me to understand that the mercy of her Sacred Maternal Heart and my prayers had obtained his absolution from every sin and death had thus been an entrance into Paradise. These had been my thoughts after the vision.
I am happy to know he is blessed. And I do not hesitate to declare that, as I recognized him in the portrait on the cover and - from the position of his arms and head, slightly inclined towards the right - in the sketch by M. Barberis on page forty-seven, so I state that I do not hesitate to be convinced that he is in glory, enjoying the vision of the Triune God and Mary Most Holy, who had me see him enveloped in the loving, very pure beam issuing forth from her Most Sacred Heart and taken up into Heaven by Her, the beautiful, Most Pure Mother....
Our Lord told me to transcribe my act of offering, the hymn to Jesus Crucified, and other spiritual elements which had paved the way for my current state. I obeyed, writing these brief notes as an introduction.
I solemnly made an offering as a victim of Merciful Love on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity in 1925. But afterwards, because of a force spurring me on and a premonition concerning world events - which later came true - experienced from July 1930 until May 1931, I felt the need to call for a real crusade of victim souls to save the world by way of the press of Women’s Catholic Action. After my proposal, which I felt to have been indicated by God, had been harshly rejected - and rejected on May 17, 1931, with the observation that there was no need for it because in both Italy and other nations everything was in order between Church and State and between State and State - since only fourteen days thereafter God, through a painful trial (the struggle against Catholic Action), contradicted the excessively glib optimists, I conceived of doing on my own what others found it useless to do. I trembled a bit on offering myself to Justice, recalling the words of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus: “If you were to offer yourselves to Justice, you would have to tremble, but to offer yourselves to Merciful Love, you would not. He will treat you with mercy.” As I wavered between a yes and a no, the day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus came in June 1931. At the sung Mass with the voices of the Circulines, right after the Gloria a mental vision and a mental knowledge of all the calamities which have tortured us over the past ten years presented themselves to me. An apocalyptic contemplation.... I was seized by such anguish and uncontrollable weeping that I could no longer see anything - anything but the abyss into which the world was plummeting and the need to set victims as props to obstruct or at least slow down the world’s race to the precipice. They had to lead and guide me out of the church at the end of the Mass because I was crying so much that I couldn’t see.... When I got back home, I wrote my act of offering, which I solemnly pronounced later, on the feast of the Most Precious Blood.158 Here it is.
O my God, the origin and end of all power, all wisdom, all good, Eternal and Uncreated Love, Most Holy Trinity, may You be blessed now and always, loved and adored forever and ever.
That this love for You may expand and pervade the whole earth and the Kingdom of Christ may be established thereupon, bringing men peace, the peace which comes from You alone; that souls may turn to You, fount of living water quenching all thirst and granting eternal life, I, though indigent and sinful, from the abyss of my nothingness dare to uplift my heart and my life, my whole self, towards You, Blessed Trinity, and offer You this nothingness of mine as a host of expiation and love for the coming of your Kingdom, for the flowering of this peace of yours, and for the redemption of souls, of those I love and know, of those who are dearest of all to me because of the ties binding me to them, as well as those who are unknown or hostile to me.
May this sacrifice, which I offer to You, O God, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy and St. Joseph, be pleasing to You in its smallness. It is all that I can give You, and I give it with joy for the conversion of souls, world peace, and the prosperity, tranquillity, peace, and every other good of my country, for the triumph of the Church over her enemies, for the return to God of those nations which are now prey to Satan and schisms, for the perfection of the Priesthood, and the eternal salvation of my own and my parents’ souls and of all the souls whom I have loved, instructed in your Law, and guided to You.
If I were to compare the splendors of your power to my indigence, I would be left annihilated before such omnipotence; if I were to compare my nothingness and sin to your Perfection, I would have to flee as unworthy from your sight; but I trust You, as is pleasing to You, and I give You my whole self, with my past, my present, and my future, with my sins, my efforts at goodness, my falls, and my immense desires to love You and souls. I think that You are Love, Mercy, and Goodness; You are the Father, Brother, and Spouse of our souls; You are Charity made flesh and turn no one away from your loving breast. I am thus sure that You will mercifully bend over this little slave of yours to accept her offering, hear her prayer, and consent to her wishes.
Oh, I will remain at your feet as long as You like, waiting for your smile to tell me that my offering is pleasing to You; nor will the wait cause me fear, for I know it is a trial which You give me to test my faith; nor will my nothingness cause me fear, for I robe it in the merits of my Beloved, who lives in me. And I repeat the ineffable words of my adored Word, of my Master and Redeemer, to present my prayer to You, the Eternal One: “Father, forgive men because they do not know what they are doing; forgive them through the merits of Christ, Mary, and the Martyrs and Saints, and if, to placate your offended Justice, new expiatory hosts are needed, here I am, O Father. Immolate me for the sake of peace between man and God, between man and man, for the coming of your Kingdom.”
O my Beloved, your Heart is bleeding, incessantly wounded by this tide of sins invading the earth, and your thirst for love is growing every day, as mankind drifts away from You. Oh, take me as a host to console your scorned love. I would like to renew this offering every time a sin wounds You and a new offense is hurled against the Most Holy T!rinity; I would like to be innocent and rich in merits to be able to console You more; I would like there to be multitudes of souls with me ready to offer themselves to your love. But I am poor and alone - I, too, blameworthy. I am not discouraged, though, by my incapacity, my indigence, and my solitude; I am as is pleasing to You, and this suffices and encourages me in offering myself to You. It is You that have placed this evergrowing thirst for love and immolation in my heart, and this tells me that You want me, too, poor and weak, a real nonentity losing herself before your immensity.
Aware of this smallness of mine, I ask You not to treat me as a bride or sister. You are the Owner of Heaven and earth; I am an atom of dust.... You are the King of kings; I, the least of your subjects. But, as in a royal palace there are intimate companions of the Lord who spend their days in the bonds of affection and there are also servants whose sole duty is to obey, so I desire to be regarded by You as a servant - indeed, even less - O my Beloved. I want to be the slave whose sole purpose is to serve her Lord with humility and faithfulness. I want to be the blind instrument used for the triumph of Merciful Love on earth, the humble maidservant who gives her whole self for the cause of her King, the creature who remains in the dust at the foot of your throne to cover over the blasphemous outcry of sinners with her poor song, to console your pierced Heart with her faithful love, and to obtain many souls for You through her hidden sacrifice. You said Yourself, beloved Jesus, that the greatest love is shown by those who lay down their lives for their friends. I thus come and offer myself to You, my only perfect Friend, so that your Kingdom will be established on earth and in the hearts of men.
You also said, “When I am lifted up, I will draw everyone to Myself.” I, too, imitating You, want to be raised up on the cross of pain, on your Cross of salvation, which most flee in terror, and, crucified with You, for your sake, I want to expiate for those who sin, obey You for those who rebel, bless You for those who curse You, love You for those who hate You, and entreat You for those who forget You - in a word, live in an act of perfect love, referring everything to You, seeing You in everything, loving everything for your sake and in You, and accepting everything from You, my infinite Good.
O my Beloved, by the cross I ask You for, the life I offer You, and the love I long for, make me the happy victim of your Merciful Love. May I love in and by it; may I act under its impulse; may my every act, word, thought, and deed bear the seal of this love of yours. May it be my shield and my purification, my joy and my martyrdom; may it be an increasingly intimate fusion with You, to the point of the ultimate fusion in which the free soul flies to rejoin You to adore and love You perfectly throughout blessed eternity.
Adoramus Te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi, quia per Sanctum Crucem tuam redemisti mundum.
O my Jesus, I adore the Most Holy Wound on your right hand and ask You, for the sake of this pain, to grant me the spirit of charity. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
I adore... on your left hand and ask You... to grant me the spirit of contrition. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
I adore... on your right foot and ask You... to grant me the spirit of apostolate. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
I adore...on your left foot and ask You...to grant me the spirit of sacrifice. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
I adore the Most Holy Wound in your side and ask You, for the sake of this pain, to accept my offering as a victim to Divine Justice and to your Merciful Love. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
O my Jesus, for the sake of the pain of your holy and immaculate flesh, pierced because of your love, I ask You to grant me all that I ask. Fortify me with the Holy Blood You shed from your wounds. Purify me with the water issuing forth from your lacerated heart. Inflame my soul with the splendor of your divine wounds. Have the rays of love flowing from it sink into my heart like as many fiery darts and impress upon it the traces of your pierced Body so that I may become crucified in love. Grant me, out of love for your Holy Wounds, an increasingly ardent thirst for You, an ever-deeper identification with You, a more and more blazing charity to cleanse and purify me of sins and make me ready for Heaven.
Another Little Rosary to Obtain Resignation
Adoramus....
I adore, O my Jesus, the Most Holy Wound on your right hand and ask You, out of love for it, to grant me the gift of resignation in corporal sufferings. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
I adore... left hand and ask You, out of love for it, to grant me the gift of resignation in moral afflictions. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
I adore... right foot... the gift of resignation in spiritual sufferings. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
I adore... right foot... the gift of resignation in the suffering, bitterness, and discouragement of illnesses, offenses, betrayals, abandonment, and the harshness of creatures. Pater, Ave, Gloria.
I adore... in your side and ask You, out of love for it, to grant me resignation in the face of death; indeed, even more I ask You for calm, peace, and joy in dying. May I die, I ask You, in a longing of love for You.
O my adorable Lord, crucified for me. I ask You, Divine Martyr out of love for us, to make me joyfully willing to suffer. Increase love for You in me as pain increases. If the flames of charity completely invade my soul, suffering will be sweet for me, and sweet will be dying out of love for You and creatures.
Heart of Jesus, always be my good and my love.
O my Mother, Mary, when the storm roars more forcefully upon me and the cross weighs down, give me the sweetness of your smile; when my soul suffers in passion, give me the comfort of your caress; when death makes me afraid, give me your lap as a refuge and your Heart as a Mother to console my fainting. O my Mother, I entrust my life and my agony to you. May I die in your arms in order to awaken in Paradise.
Merciful Patriarch, St. Joseph, in the extreme moment, come to meet me and guide my soul on the final journey to salvation. May your look put the infernal tempter to flight and my soul take refuge in your arms, which were a cradle for my Savior, and take flight from there towards Eternal Love. St. Joseph, be my shield in the final battle so that I may die in Christ.
Holy Angel, given to me by God’s mercy, forgive me for the little love I have shown you until now. Make me love and honor you always from now on and always stay at my side, but even more at the hour of death so that the Evil One cannot disturb the serenity of my passing and I may die with Christian faithfulness and submission to the Eternal Will. My Angel, accompany me in death to my Jesus.
February 21, 1934.
O my father, St. Francis of Assisi, through the love with which Jesus Christ loved you and you loved Him, obtain for me, I pray, the suffering and love which you requested for yourself. I do not ask you for the visible glory of the stigmata, of which I am not worthy, but an intimate sharing in the afflictions and love of Jesus and your own so that I, in imitation of both of you, may die of love for God and souls.
March 11, 1934.
March 14, 1897. Born on G.B. Vico Street in Caserta.
March 24 (?). Baptism at St. Helen’s Church.
October 2, 1901. With the Ursulines in Milan, Lanzone Street, and my first encounter with Jesus in the Passion.
March 18, 1904. First Confession with the Ursulines.
May 30, 1905. Confirmation with the Marcellines, Quadronno Street, Milan.
October 5, 1908. First Communion in Casteggio with the Nevers Sisters and consecration to Mary Immaculate.
March 4, 1909. I was sent to the Bianconi School of the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Child Mary and Capitanio.
June 1, 1910. A Daughter of Mary.
November 11, 1912. Memorable Exercises.... I proposed “sacrifice and duty in all things and at all times and received the vocation to pain for the sake of love.
June 11, 1916. An admonitory dream: “It is not enough not to do evil; one must also not desire to do it,” I was told by Jesus. And this put a check on the disturbances arising from many moral afflictions.
February 11, 1922. St. Francis of Assisi spoke to my heart....
January 1, 1923. “I am thirsty! Grant that I may save souls to give them to You and take away everything else....”
January 1, 1924. Renunciation of the world and affections for my spiritual salvation and that of many. Vow of chastity.
January 28, 1925. St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus.
Most Holy Trinity 1925. Act of offering to Merciful Love.
May 4,1928. Slavery in Mary Most Holy in keeping with Blessed Grignon de Montfort.
May 21, 1929. In Castelverde di Cremona. The first touch of death and pain. Long live love!
June 25, 1929. The Second Jubilee. Vow of chastity, poverty, and obedience.
November 6, 1929. Postulant in the Franciscan Third Order.
December 29, 1929. Women’s Catholic Action.
Holy Friday 1930. Agony in Church during the three hours of agony. First attack of angina pectoris.
June 29, 1930. Ecce sponsa Christi! Veni...! And love accelerated the heart lesions and consumed.
November 23, 1930. Taking the habit as a Third Order Franciscan and renewal of vows and offerings.
July 1, 1931. Act of offering as a victim to Divine Justice and Love. My act of offering.
January 4, 1932. The guardian angel and the syncope....
December 18, 1932. The cloister began because of the worsening of illness.
April 7, 1933. Passion Friday. To accelerate immolation I repeated the act of offering under the protection of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Holy Friday 1934. Adoring Jesus Crucified, burning with compassionate love, I sang my psalm of praise of pain and love (see below).
April 1, 1934. Easter. Jesus rose. I was nailed to my bed.... My heart had given out after the ardent beating on Friday.
April 18, 1934. Continuing with the desire to accelerate the devouring fire, I renewed my act of offering, joining to Mary’s protection that of St. Joseph, which was celebrated on this date.
April 21, 1934. Let us sanctify and use pain! I was becoming a zealot of suffering.
June 30, 1935. The death of my father.... And Jesus asked me for the sacrifice of not being present, saying good-bye, or seeing him - though I was living in the same house.
October 5, 1938. A sister in the Congregation of the Most Holy Child Mary, under whose protection I renewed all my offerings.
February 9, 1939. “Lord, so that this father may not lose faith in You and hope, save his little daughter and give me her illness.” And the pleurisy struck me, whereas Anna- Maria miraculously healed when she was already in agony and death was expected from one minute to the next. She had been ill for three months with pulmonary gangrene after getting pneumonia and lung attacks. She was fifteen months old....
April l, 1940. My correspondence with Giuseppe began on his theories etc.
June 4, 1941. I saw the mysterious door opening and a glow of light emerging, and within there was a Voice telling me not to disdain Giuseppe Belfanti, but, rather, to show him profound charity, for he might have found mercy before the Divine Heart because of his search for God, even if conducted along the wrong paths.
March 2, 1943. Identifying itself as the Voice of Jesus - after having spoken to me as an unknown voice when I was awake or dreaming - and joining to the words the touch of his hands drawing me to his chest, the Voice clearly said to me, “But I remain for you....”159
April 23, 1943. Good Friday. The first dictation.l60
October 4, 1943. My mother died. And, as with my father, I was denied the chance to be present, say good-bye, or see her - though we were only a few yards apart.
December 1943. The visions.
March 25-31, 1944. Taking the habit and professing in the Third Order of the Servants of Mary.
April 10-May 9, 1944. The hour of Gethsemane! The time between the sixth and ninth hour. The atrocity of the suffering which Heaven does not console. The hour of hell....May 9, 1944. The Word returned. The suffering was atrocious, but accompanied by Jesus, my Cyrenean.
July 4, 1944. Temptation. Satan tried to exploit the offense I had received from those I had benefited to tempt me violently to simulate the “Voice” in order to curse them. A harsh battle, overcome through love for God.
July 15, 1944. Peace flowed forth to console me in the face of cruel men and the violent temptations of Satan.
August 11, 1944. The promise: “In a few days you will be freed,” the Voice said, in opposition to the words of distrustful men. And on September 3 we were freed, and I had occasion to know human egoism increasingly and cling to God so as to be able to forgive and forgive and forgive, in order to obtain a soul for God.
October 16-17, 1944. Giuseppe converted from heresy and was freed from spiritism after four years and six months of struggle (see below).
November 10, 1944. Absolute abandonment in this exile! God alone. And forgiving, forgiving so as finally to convert....
December 24, 1944. Return home. I consecrated the house to Our Lady of Fatima in addition to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Joseph.
October 5, 1945. Extreme Unction. I offered the penance of death for the spiritual life of Giuseppe, who in these months had not advanced much as a soul and had acted badly as a relative. But I had always forgiven to arrive at the goal. I had always offered the sufferings of his conduct for this purpose....
November 21, 1945. First Confession and First Communion of Giuseppe at age sixty-five. Thank You, Lord!
And I could add the dates - also mystical - of the blows of the scourge (November 10-20, 1944), of the chalice of Divine Blood (around Easter 1945), and of the chalice of Gethsemane (October or December 1945), but I have neither the desire nor the strength to look up the exact dates.
This is my mystical calendar until the present.
As an addition to October 16-17, I am attaching here a copy of what Giuseppe wrote at the bottom of the “dictation” addressed to him. I gave Father Migliorini that dictation with other pages concerning Giuseppe and mediumistic practice.
On October 23, 1944 Giuseppe wrote, “I read the message which the Master, in his great goodness, wanted to send me. I am moved and happy over such great good, which has alleviated the pain I have felt in these days on learning that my whole business has been destroyed and all my earthly goods have been destroyed and stolen and on seeing myself in poverty after so many years of hard-working well-being. A greater good is set against the lost earthly goods - being forgiven by the Master. Furthermore, as regards what the Master says in his message, it is the truth, pure and simple. I had contact with a friend of mine who, in good faith, thought he was a ‘spokesman of the Master.’ Another friend - and I, too, had understood him - was completely invaded by the Beast, for he maintained and firmly believed he could one day, in the very near future, actually become ‘an agent of Jesus on earth.’ I had often expressed to Mary my great desire to know the truth regarding the presumed ‘spokesman’ of Reggio Calabria and did not hope to receive such goodness from the Master, who has enlightened me on my good faith and clearly indicated to me that I was following the wrong path. Glory and grace to Him, and may his Name be forever blessed.” It was signed “Giuseppe Belfanti.”
Good Friday 1934
He is the Man of Sorrows, the Beloved of my heart. To resemble God, I, too, must suffer.
Come to me, then, O dear thorns, O sweet nails! Strike me, strike me, for the bride wants to be adorned with the jewels of her King.
See how languid his gaze is, how scorched his mouth is, as he prays on the cross for guilty mankind.
My heart, do you hear the “Voice” murmuring the words of love amidst sobs?
How great his sorrow is! He is dying for us and forgives and promises Paradise and, lowering his sweet face, says, “I am thirsty!” and waits for mercy from us.
“What can I give your blessed lips and your suffering heart to soothe your final agony? With what balm can I bring relief to your breast, O Redeemer?”
“With your faithful affection and your generous suffering.” Oh, come to me, to me, sweet thorns and dear nails! Encircle me, strike me, and nail me to the hard wood! Let my King’s head rest upon my chest and my heart. With my affection and my love I want to wipe away his tears, calm his fever, and comfort his agony.
Blessed be pain, which makes me like You!
Blessed be your cross, which lifts me up to Heaven!
Blessed be love, which gives my suffering wings!
Blessed be that day, when your love enchanted me. More blessed be the moment which consecrated me to You. But seraphic is the torment which joins me, O Redeemer, to the cross and pain, for the sake, O God, of your glory!
Oh, come to me, to me, sweet thorns, dear nails! You adorn me and in me you sculpt the likeness of my King!
Come, come, reddened hard wood of the cross. Here below I want to seek you alone as my support!
Above, in heaven, amidst splendors, no longer languid and moaning, but shining eternally, the Redeemer awaits me.
Adorned with the cross, with my head encircled by thorns; consumed by his love, I shall fly to Him one day.
And amidst rejoicing angels and seraphic splendors, He will turn the torments and pains into myriad gems.
Blessed be pain. Blessed be the cross. Blessed be love, which will be fulfilled in heaven!
157 A professed priest in the Order of the Servants of Mary (1916 – 1937).
158 The events recalled here are narrated more extensively in the Autobiography, written in 1943.
159 The events listed here chronologically are dealt with in the Autobiography, written between February and April 1943.
160 Beginning with this date, the events mentioned can be found in The Notebooks. 1943 and The Notebooks. 1944.